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Reference specimen · Darla Sondrol, CC0
Battery minerals
Top-10 #2Sample dataCopper is the backbone of electrification: power grids, EV motors and wiring, renewables and data centres. The DRC is now the world's #2 mine producer after Chile, and Zambia is Africa's #2; together they form the Central African Copperbelt, one of the world's highest-grade copper provinces. Africa exports copper at every stage, from concentrate to refined cathode.
Verified companies only
Volumes, origins and terms are shown to verified companies. Availability for everyone else: Spot + Contract. Verify your company or submit a request.
Copper cathode
Unit: t · HS 7403.11
refined metal, LME Grade A: ≥99.99% Cu (BS EN 1978 Cu-CATH-1 / ASTM B115). Full plates ~125 kg, strapped bundles ~2–2.5 t. Only LME-registered brands are exchange-deliverable; many DRC SX-EW producers sell 'standard' or non-registered cathode at a discount.
Copper concentrate
Unit: t · HS 2603.00
flotation product, typically 20–30% Cu (Kamoa-Kakula concentrate is unusually high at >50% Cu); sulphide mineral powder shipped in bulk or bags; also contains payable Au/Ag and penalty elements (As, Bi, Hg, Pb).
Blister / anode copper
Unit: t · HS 7402.00
~98–99% Cu from a smelter (e.g. Kamoa-Kakula's direct-to-blister smelter, 2025), sold to refineries.
Copper-cobalt ores and 'copper oxide' material
Unit: t
typical of the DRC; usually processed locally (SX-EW).
ARAM sourcing assessment
High. Deep, liquid market; Africa is central. Best entry point: cathode from mid-tier DRC/Zambian SX-EW producers (off-take or spot tonnages), and concentrate for smelters. Listing status: Spot available + Contract.
DR Congo
Katanga/Lualaba — Kamoa-Kakula (Ivanhoe/Zijin), Tenke Fungurume and Kisanfu (CMOC), Kamoto/KCC and Mutanda (Glencore), Sicomines, Deziwa; many mid-size SX-EW plants
Zambia
Kansanshi and Sentinel (First Quantum), Mopani (IRH), Lumwana (Barrick), Konkola
South Africa
Palabora; Botswana: Khoemacau, Motheo (Kalahari Copperbelt)
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 — African rows of the world production & reserves table
World Mine and Refinery Production and Reserves: Reserves for Canada, Chile, Peru, Poland, and “Other Congo (Kinshasa) 2,990 3,200 2,560 2,800 80,000 Zambia 823 940 189 270 21,000 World total (rounded) 23,000 23,000 27,600 29,000 980,000
| Year | Country | HS | Value | Net weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | DR Congo | 7403 | $23.78bn | 2.59 Mt |
| 2023 | DR Congo | 7403 | $17.02bn | 2.02 Mt |
| 2024 | Zambia | 7402 | $5.84bn | 621.4 kt |
| 2023 | Zambia | 7402 | $5.03bn | 579.6 kt |
| 2024 | DR Congo | 2603 | $2.71bn | 926.7 kt |
| 2023 | DR Congo | 2603 | $2.16bn | 790.3 kt |
| 2024 | Zambia | 7403 | $1.67bn | 180.6 kt |
| 2023 | Zambia | 7403 | $1.63bn | 199.8 kt |
| 2023 | DR Congo | 7402 | $1.41bn | 183.7 kt |
| 2024 | DR Congo | 7402 | $1.31bn | 160.8 kt |
| 2024 | South Africa | 7403 | $495.4m | 59.6 kt |
| 2023 | South Africa | 7403 | $491.7m | — |
Mirror data fills gaps where exporters report late or incompletely.
| Year | Buyer | Origin | HS | Value | Net weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | China | DR Congo | 7403 | $14.01bn | 1.48 Mt |
| 2023 | China | DR Congo | 7403 | $7.41bn | 870.3 kt |
| 2024 | China | Zambia | 7402 | $3.96bn | 422.4 kt |
| 2023 | China | Zambia | 7402 | $3.42bn | 405.4 kt |
| 2024 | China | DR Congo | 2603 | $2.52bn | 624.8 kt |
| 2023 | China | DR Congo | 2603 | $2.08bn | 568.2 kt |
| 2023 | India | Zambia | 7402 | $1.73bn | 203.9 kt |
| 2024 | India | Zambia | 7402 | $1.59bn | 179.0 kt |
| 2023 | China | DR Congo | 7402 | $1.41bn | 172.6 kt |
| 2024 | China | DR Congo | 7402 | $1.12bn | 123.8 kt |
| 2023 | UAE | DR Congo | 7403 | $1.10bn | 126.2 kt |
| 2024 | Rep. of Korea | DR Congo | 7403 | $937.4m | 102.3 kt |
Source: UN Comtrade (public data). Values in US$.
Minerals trade on formula prices: a published benchmark × metal content × payable percentage, less treatment charges and impurity penalties, settled on independent assay. Payment is typically by documentary letter of credit, with 90–95% provisional payment against shipping documents and the balance on final assay.
Request terms for CopperDR Congo
State marketing channel
export via approved channels; strategic-minerals regulator ARECOMS; state trading entity (EGC for cobalt) and moves to market state-share output (reported 2025)
Authority: ARECOMSReported — verify before relying on itSource
Zambia
Levy / tax
Mercuria–IDC copper trading JV (Dec 2024); export taxes and permits
Primary sourceSource
Cross-border
No special restriction
Traceability requirements rising (EU, US buyers)
Primary source
Operator: Ivanhoe Mines / Zijin / Government of DRC
Direct-to-blister smelter started Nov 2025.
LME Grade A copper cathode must meet BS EN 1978:2022 Cu-CATH-1 (or ASTM B115 Grade 1); ≥99.99% Cu with tight impurity limits (e.g. Ag ≤25 ppm, total non-Cu ≤65 ppm). Full-plate cathodes ~914×914 mm, bundles ~2 t. Only LME-registered brands deliverable on LME.
Source 1 · lme.comSource 2 · lme.comSource 3 · fastmarkets.comSource 4 · boliden.com
Kamoa-Kakula (DRC, Ivanhoe/Zijin/DRC state 20%): 2024 output 437,061 t Cu in concentrate; 2025 guidance 520–580 kt (later revised); on-site 500 ktpa direct-to-blister smelter started Nov 2025, first anode Dec 2025. Power constraints from regional drought.
Source 1 · ivanhoemines.comSource 2 · ivanhoemines.comSource 3 · ivanhoemines.com
Zambia formed a copper-trading JV with Mercuria (Dec 2024, initial US$500m); DRC seeking more control over marketing of state-share output.
Research compiled September 2026 from USGS, UN Comtrade, producer and regulator publications. Facts marked “reported” come from secondary sources and should be confirmed before contracting.
On the ground · Copper
The mines and districts that define supply, with their operators. They are shown for geographic context: third-party operations, not ARAM sites, and not the source of any particular lot. Ownership and status as publicly reported in 2026.
Producing mine and smelterZambia
Operated by First Quantum Minerals
Zambia's largest copper mine, in North-Western Province, with its own smelter.
Photo: Paule1981 · Public domain
Mining districtZambia
Operated by Multiple operators
A century-old copper province: open pits and underground mines around Chingola, Kitwe and Mufulira, feeding smelters and cathode refineries.
Photo: BlueSalo · CC BY-SA 3.0
Tailings reprocessingDR Congo
Operated by STL (Gécamines), with Umicore
Decades of slag and tailings from Gécamines' Lubumbashi smelter, now reprocessed for germanium, copper and cobalt; the first germanium concentrate shipped in 2024.
Photo: User:Vberger · Public domain
Mining complexSouth Africa
Operated by Palabora Mining Company; Foskor; Rainbow Rare Earths (phosphogypsum project)
A carbonatite complex hosting one of Africa's largest open pits (copper), phosphate operations (Foskor) and rare earths recoverable from phosphogypsum stacks.
Photo: Daniel Kraft · CC BY-SA 3.0DR Congo
No freely licensed photograph
DR Congo
Operated by Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining, Government of the DRC
One of the world's highest-grade large copper mines, in Lualaba province. A direct-to-blister smelter started in late 2025, shifting exports from concentrate towards anode copper.
DR Congo
No freely licensed photograph
DR Congo
Operated by CMOC Group
A major copper-cobalt operation in Lualaba; together with CMOC's Kisanfu it makes CMOC the world's largest cobalt producer.
DR Congo
No freely licensed photograph
DR Congo
Operated by Multiple operators (Glencore's KCC, state-linked and Chinese-owned producers)
The centre of the Central African Copperbelt's cobalt output, with large industrial mines and artisanal diggings side by side — the setting behind cobalt due-diligence requirements.
Darla Sondrol, CC0
Photo by and (c)2015 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man), CC BY-SA 4.0
Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo by and (c)2015 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man), CC BY-SA 4.0
“Jon Zander (Digon3)", CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo by and (c)2015 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man), CC BY-SA 4.0
Darla Sondrol, CC0
Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0
JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0
Kaethe17, CC BY-SA 4.0
Kaethe17, CC BY-SA 4.0
Reference specimens of the ore minerals and products, from public collections. They illustrate the material, not a specific ARAM lot or source.
#01Battery minerals
Cobalt is a battery and superalloy metal, and the DRC supplies roughly 70–75% of the world's mined cobalt, almost all as a by-product of copper mining. Most DRC output leaves as cobalt hydroxide, an intermediate that is refined (mostly in China) into sulphate for batteries or metal for alloys. Since 2025 the DRC has controlled exports through the ARECOMS quota system, turning a surplus market into a managed one.
#07Tech & industrial metals
Germanium is a minor metal used in fibre optics, infrared optics (night vision, thermal imaging for defence), satellite solar cells and semiconductors. China dominates supply and has restricted exports since August 2023, tightening further in 2024. The DRC's Big Hill tailings in Lubumbashi, historic slag and tailings from Gécamines' zinc-copper operations, are now one of the very few new non-Chinese sources: STL processes them and Umicore refines the concentrate in Belgium.
#04Battery minerals
Lithium is the defining battery metal. Africa went from almost nothing to one of the fastest-growing supply regions in 2023–25, led by Zimbabwe (Africa's #1, top-5 globally), then Mali (Goulamina, Bougouni), Nigeria and Namibia. African lithium is hard-rock (spodumene, petalite, lepidolite pegmatites), sold as mineral concentrate. Governments now force local processing: raw ore export bans are in place, and Zimbabwe is moving to ban concentrate in favour of lithium sulphate.
#05Battery minerals
Natural flake graphite is the main raw material for battery anodes (as spherical graphite) and for refractories. China controls most mining and more than 90% of anode processing and has tightened graphite export controls since December 2023. That makes African flake strategically valuable. Mozambique (Balama, the world's largest flake mine), Madagascar and Tanzania are the key sources.